has anybody noticed that the new so called look? is a cross between tracie island & stingray will thunder bird 3 come from below the iconic sculpture? & whats that we see swimming down the roch maria aqua mariea & here come's troy tempest some of these buildings are the same as in stingray. F.A.B. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE NEXT HALF HOUR. come you lot get a life & give rochdale some thing to be proud OF.

   The transformation of Rochdale looks nice on paper, but I am afraid the only winners will be the developers and the elite. How much will it cost the Council Tax payers.

   On the whole this is great news as for me Rochdale has been an outdated town for the last couple of decades.

However i do agree with Henry Kelly in that there should be a memorial for Stefan Kizko maybe in conjunction with the one for John Bright. In fact there are more famous people from Rochdale (Gracie Fields, Bill Oddie, etc) who i think we should pay homage to even if in a small way.

Maybe they should hae a new dress code as well NO Hoodies & Shell suit bottoms, well we can hope at least.

I know there is no real industy in Rochdale anymore but that still does not mean Rochdale cannot be as great a place as it once was.

   The new, iconic structure could be enscribed with a town motto: GIRO BINGO TESCO DIPSO ASBO perhaps?

   'Something distinctive' ! Am I alone in thinking the main view in the 'artists impression' favours a reject from a Blue Peter Design a town centre competition from the 1960/70's ? This was once a beautiful little town centre bursting with character, and now it isn't. Save us from any further 'improvements' for goodness sake !!!!!!!

   I'm now convinced that this plan is more about interested parties carving up huge sums of ratepayer's money than doing anything for the town. Rochdale's historic gems: the Town Hall; the Coop Buildings and St Mary's Church at the Baum; The Reed Hotel passage etc. are ignored. What we are shown is a featureless glass building with the Debenham's brand on it. And let's have a reality check: Debenham's are reported as showing an interest! That's a long way from them actually saying they are going to open up their flagship store here. It's just another concrete jungle.

   There are only two kinds of money: There's your money, and then there's someone else's, and, as Jack63 points out, the silly burghers of this town are very good at spending the latter. The images of characterless structures of concrete and glass are an identikit of Anytown Shopping Mall, when Rochdale so needs individuality and diversity. Haven't we wasted enough money on pointless "iconic structures" already, with the two meaningless columns opposite the Art Gallery? Bury was smart. It simply put a roof over the existing buildings and kept the market, preserving their identities. Still, maybe shoppers will come here to admire our expensive paving stones on Yorkshire Street. Has anyone else noticed that there are now no rain water gullies there? In heavy rain Woolworths could become our new swimming baths.

   So, Wilson Bowden are involved in a £250 million project for shops and a Debenhams for Rochdale.

The leader of your council says that these plans will transform Rochdale town centre into 'something destinctive'. Don't believe the hype Rochdale.

Over here in Macclesfield we have been kept in the dark with dodgy secret deals for our town centre.

That will cost us £250 million.

That will have a Debebhams.

That is done by Wilson Bowden.

'Distinctive' Rochdale Cllr Taylor? More like off the peg tat from construction companies that are repeating this all over the country.

Good luck Rochdale, you have just sold your soul.

   I agree with Mr Kelly. These £250 million plans, based on very dubious consultation, are a pre-prepared sham that does not serve the wider interests of the town centre and does not react to economic reality.

The huge offices of Newgate House on the old Hippodrome theatre site will be even more empty with the withdrawl of the Inland Revenue office. Many thousands of sqaure feet of office space in the town centre ideal for Rochdale Council at very little cost. But instead they want to steamroller plans through to demolish (and sell off) their existing offices and have new ones built (at what cost to the council taxpayer over the next 30 years?)

The fancy additional shops (that we don't really need) are a diversion. The fact that the RDA did not listen shows that. The findings of their consulation were remarkably similar to a press release they published a few months before the latest consultation.

The saddest thing about all this is that real businesses are going to the wall or leaving Rochdale whilst the RDA waste all this money and energy on new projects to justify their own existences.

The RDA is an organisation driven by demolision and new build. That is why it employs so many former planning officers -with more advertised for (in the trade press at £34,000 a year, each).

How can ordinary people argue with well paid planning experts and very well paid directors that have already made their minds up?

Meanwhile, manufacturing jobs in Rochdale haemorrage to be replaced by mediocre retail positions that will disappear in a puff of smoke when the recession kicks in.

By then, St Andrews, a vibrant, newly refurbished Church will have been demolished and valuable youth organisations like Skylight Circus will be moved on.

An 'arts centre' has been promised. We already have one thank you. It is called Touchstones and contains more heritage and style than any of the boring concrete pictured in Wilson Bowden's brave new world.

A few year ago, in its renaissance vision, the RDA promised a swimming pool for the town centre. It looks as though that was an empty promise. Then again have been promised a civic theatre/performance space for years too.

Instead we will just get a retail pantomine and some expensive white elephants.

   You would think they could spare a few bob to clean and smarten up the Town Hall, the real town centre piece. Such a beautiful negelected centre piece wake up Rochdale council its staring you in the face 250m transformation, wake up.

   well done Rochdale. About time someone dragged it kicking and screaming out of the 70's! Hopefully it will make people want to start investing in the otherwise tired town and put it back on the map.

   a nice new place for the underclasses , drug abusers, shop lifters , single mums pushing buggies and lads with hoodies and shell suit bottoms to wander around as the rest of us work to pay there benefits. Wake up RMBC have a look who shops/steals in the town centre compared with places like Bury, Why not have Jeremy Kyle on plasmas you will get them coming in earlier. waste of my taxes...again!

   I cant believe i am saying this but i actually agree with Henry Kelly. (First time for everything).

A memorial of Stefan Kisko definetley.

   Instead of an "iconic structure" we could have an ironic structure to mark this £250,000,000 project.

How about 3 joined statutes of John Hudson, Roger Ellis and Allen Brett above a plaque with the words "to out immortal debt".

Perhaps they could chip in to pay for the public art with some of their wages?

Together, the council's Chief Executive, the RDA's boss and Allen Brett, receive about £250,000 a year of public money as pay.

   Wait a minute! Bars! places for people to socialize! Shopping! Wow. Come on. We are in Rochdale 2008, £1 millon a year lost to the withdawel of the tax service. Industrial base runined in the 70 to 90's. A monumnent to John Bright (surely a rememberence of Stefan Kisko would be more appropriate?) and only 250m! I say move the council to Newgate house and save the taxpayers some money!